The Studio Chair

(This is a repost from my old blog in which I talked about a series of works I made for the Epiphany season back in 2011. The works went together to form a kind of book which was displayed for the season at my church, AllSouls in Wheaton. For images of the rest of the work and a link to the rest of the articles go to my archives page and look for Epiphany Book.)

For the opening pages of the book, I used resin and gold leaf. I discovered that frankincense and myrrh are both tree resins, so my choice of materials are meant to recall the gifts of the Magi.The images are are created from two crossword puzzles, the initial one the first one ever published in the New York Times, the second one from the December 26th, 2010 issue, or the first Sunday in Christmas for this liturgical year. Crossword puzzles are, to me, a good metaphor for the idea of manifestation. The words are, in a sense, there to be made manifest. You just have to put in the work.

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About David

David J. P. Hooker lives and works in the greater Chicago area, where he is an artist and Chair of the Art Department at Wheaton College. He received an M.F.A. in Ceramics from Kent State University and a B.A. in English from Furman University.

His artistic practice explores the inherent value of materials, objects, and places, hoping to find ways to better connect and understand the world we live in. Recently he was awarded the Dunhuang Ceramic Residency and spent two months as artist in residence in Lanzhou, China.

When David is not freaking out over deadlines, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Elaine, his children Abbey and Samuel, and his dog, Mac. He also enjoys baseball, BBQ, and tennis—not necessarily in that order.​